Nat Nason

“ Well, I'll give you a trial, at seven dollars a week. If you prove satisfactory I'll give you eight dollars at the end of three months, and ten dollars at the end of the first year."
"Thank you, very much."
"You can go to work at once." Mr. Garwell touched a push-button on his desk, and a clerk appeared. "Wilson, this is the new clerk, Nat Nason. You can show him his duties. And tell those others that are waiting that the position is filled." ”

“ He has got to support himself."
"I hope it makes a man of him," said our hero.
The next three weeks were busy ones for Nat. He had to appear against Nick Smithers, who was brought to New York, tried, and sentenced to several years in prison. It was found that there was money coming to the swindler, and through this our hero and the others who had put up their money for positions with "Hamilton Dart," received what was coming to them.
"It was great of you to run him down," said the sick man to Nat. "This return of money will please my sister."
"And I am thankful too," added Harry Bray. ”

“ Nat did not know that for the past few months the Widow Guff had had a hard time of it with a number of her boarders, and could scarcely make both ends meet, yet such was a fact.
One day the widow called on a friend, and from this friend learned that Abner Balberry had discharged his housekeeper, and was keeping house by himself.
"It's a shame for him to be all alone," thought the widow. "And with that nephew of his away, too! Some good woman ought to be keeping house for him." ”

“ He wanted to ask some questions, but did not dare.
"Now you are here, you must take supper with me," went on the Widow Guff.
"Thank you, Lucy, you are very kind——"
"I know you haven't any housekeeper any more, and nobody to cook for you. Yes, stay by all means."
The widow was a fairly good cook, and Nat's uncle ate with a relish all that was offered to him, ending with a piece of berry pie which was particularly fine. He spent a social hour after the meal, and then drove home in a thoughtful mood.
"Is it possible that the widow really found a pot of gold in the well?" he thought. ”

“ Fred ain't got the way about him thet Nat's got."
"He's just as smart," said the youth's mother, quickly.
"Maybe, but he ain't got the knack o' it."
"He would do just as well if he had the chance," continued Mrs. Balberry. As was perhaps natural she thought her own son as good as any boy.
On the day after Nat's uncle left New York John Garwell called the boy into his private office.
"Did you arrange matters with Mr. Balberry?" he asked, pleasantly.
"Yes, sir. He is going to leave me alone after this," and our hero smiled. ”

“ I'm glad I got it. Now, we'll see if Shanley and I can't outwit Mr. John Garwell."
Nat was already coming to his senses, and Rufus Cameron lost no time in hurrying to the library of the house. Here he obtained an old document of no consequence, but which still bore his aunt's signature. Rushing back, he placed this in the envelope which had held the other paper of importance.
Nat was just returning to his senses when he found himself being taken out of the house by Rufus Cameron. The man supported him as far as the corner and there placed him on a stone step leading to a church. ”

“ I let a man swindle me out of nearly every dollar I possessed."
"That is certainly too bad, Nat. How did it happen?"
For answer our hero made a clean breast of the whole matter. While he was telling his tale, Dick came in, and he was likewise told.
"And you mean to say that you lost the whole hundred dollars!" ejaculated the newsboy. "That's awful, Nat!"
"I wish I could get hold of that Nick Smithers. I'd—I'd wring his neck for him!"
"It won't do any good to look for him. I know his kind. He's here to-day and gone to-morrow. Those chaps work their schemes all over the States." ”

“ He swindled me out of a hundred dollars in New York, and he swindled several others out of the same amount. Just help me to lock him up and I'll get all the witnesses necessary."
"That's straight talk," came from a commercial traveler standing nearby. "If the boy can prove what he says this man ought to be arrested by all means."
"He can't prove a thing," answered Nick Smithers, but he began to grow hot and cold, for he realized that Nat meant business and was not to be overawed as easily as he had imagined.
"I'll call a cop!" piped in a newsboy who had drifted into the room. ”

“ Cameron."
"Mrs. Parloe isn't entirely responsible for what she does. I must see to it that everything is all right."
"Well, you had better call on Mr. Garwell."
"No, I must see the document while you have it here. Come! hand it over."
"I will not."
Nat had scarcely spoken when Rufus Cameron caught him roughly by the shoulder.
"Look here, boy, I am not a man to be trifled with!" he whispered, fiercely. "Let me see the paper, and it will be all right. But if you won't, I'll make a whole lot of trouble for you."
"Let go of me!" and Nat tried to pull himself away. ”

“ Jest wait till I catch Nat!"
"Do you think——" began the housekeeper.
"O' course I do!" snorted Abner Balberry. "Didn't I see him a-runnin' away from the barn?"
"I never thought Nat would be wicked enough to set a barn on fire."
"He was mad because I wouldn't give him no supper. He's a young rascal, he is!"
"But to burn a barn!"
"Thet boy has got to be taken in hand, Mrs. Felton. I've let him have his own way too much. I'm goin' to lay down the law good an' hard after this." ”

“ Nick Smithers was hurrying for the street when Nat and the officer of the law came up to him.
"Stop, Nick Smithers!" cried our hero, and caught him by the arm.
The swindler swung around, stared at Nat, and his face fell.
"This is the time you don't get away so easily," went on Nat. "Officer, do your duty."
"You'll have to consider yourself under arrest," said the policeman. "This young man makes a charge against you."
"Why, that young man is a lunatic!" cried Nick Smithers, thinking of his experience on the train. "They let him out of the asylum only day before yesterday." ”

“ As it is, you'll not get a cent."
"That remains to be seen," answered our hero.
When Nat could get away from the police station he hurried at once to the law offices of Messrs. Caswick & Sampson, as directed by Mr. Garwell.
"So you are the young man John Garwell telegraphed about," said Mr. Sampson, shaking hands. "I am glad to meet you. The business on hand concerns you personally as well as it concerns your employer."
"Concerns me?" ejaculated Nat, in wonder. "How is that?"
"I am interested in a piece of property located in New York City, near Central Park. ”

“ CHAPTER XIV NAT OBTAINS ANOTHER SITUATION
"How is it that you know so much about this man?" asked Nat, after he had collected his thoughts.
"I am a police official from Chicago," answered one of the two men who had tried to catch Hamilton Dart. "We have been on this rascal's trail for some time."
"Is Hamilton Dart his real name?"
"No; his real name is Nick Smithers. He is a sly rogue."
"Do you think there is any chance of catching him?" asked Harry Bray. "I cannot afford to lose my money."
"Nor I," added our hero. ”

“ Once at the police station, Nat made a charge against Nick Smithers, and then the swindler was asked what he had to say for himself.
"This is all a mistake," he said. "I am not the person."
"He is wanted in Chicago as well as in New York City," went on our hero.
In the meantime another officer had been looking up Nick Smithers' picture in the rogues' gallery.
"I don't think the young man is mistaken," he said. "Wait till I telephone to New York for more particulars."
This was done, and inside of an hour the rascal's identity was fully established. Then Nick Smithers broke down. ”

“ But I love to get the breeze. I think it does me good. Much obliged;" and then he passed on.
"I guess he's a lawyer, or a real estate dealer," thought Nat. "Well, he ought to walk. It may take some of the fat off of him."
Nat walked half-way to Brooklyn, and then back again. Shortly after eleven o'clock he presented himself at the proper window of the post office.
"Has the eleven o'clock mail been sorted yet?" he asked.
"Certainly."
"Have you any letters for Samuel Barrows?"
The clerk looked through one of the boxes beside him. ”

“ Balberry, and such a thing as an elaborate table was unknown on the farm. Many times Mrs. Felton had wished to cook more, or make some fancy dishes, but Abner Balberry had always stopped her from doing such a thing.
"Plain fare is good enough," he would say. "An' if ye eat too much it only brings on the dyspepsy." More than once Nat went to bed feeling positively hungry.
When Nat reached the barnyard he found his uncle already there with the milk pails and milking an old white cow called Sukey.
"Go on down the lane and drive up Jule," cried Abner Balberry, without stopping his milking. ”

“ Arriving in New York, he went to his boarding house for breakfast, and then hurried down to the office. It was not until ten o'clock that John Garwell appeared.
"Did you get the papers from Mr. Sampson?" was his employer's first question.
"Yes, sir."
"And fix up those matters at Springfield, too?"
"Yes, Mr. Garwell, and I did some other things, too," added Nat. "I had that rascal, Hamilton Dart, alias Nick Smithers, arrested."
"Is it possible! Tell me the particulars," and Nat did so. "We must do what we can to get your money back. This chap may have some property somewhere." ”

“ She died many, many years ago; but her niece, when I asked about Nat Bowditch, told me how her aunt used to love him for his earnestness in pursuing his studies, and for his gentleness, while under her care. He was “a nice boy,” she used to say. While in Danvers, his father was most of the time at [14] sea, he having been obliged to give up his trade and become a sailor when the Revolutionary War broke out. [1] Nat lived, during his father’s absence, very happily with his mother and his brothers and sisters. ”

“ When the letter had been reread, and one corner where a daisy was painted, passionately kissed, Nat felt strong enough to face the worst and conquer it. Every bill should be paid, every salable thing of his own sold, these costly rooms given up; and once back with thrifty Frau Tetzel, he would find work of some sort by which to support himself, as many another student did. He must give up the new friends, turn his back on the gay life, cease to be a butterfly, and take his place among the grubs. ”

“ If you know, mek ansaire!"
"I don't know where she is."
"Bien!" Pierre reseated himself and began to munch his toast savagely.
Madame was having a struggle with herself. It showed plainly on the thin, anxious face. The lips compressed with determination, the eyes set, then wavered, and again the indeterminate lines of acquiescent subjection gained their accustomed ascendency. Back and forth assertion and complaisance fled and followed; only assertion was holding its own. ”

“ An hour later, in intensest midnight blackness, through which the lights in the streets shone at intervals, Nat found his way through the night-time, with faltering footsteps, as one scarce waked from a dream. He must find his sister, his mother, and give them what help he could; in time he might be able to think how to help himself. ”

“ We better have staid at home, than to risk our party in his hands. Why! he is nothing but a boy. There must be some mistake about the matter."
While astonishment was evaporating from the tops of their heads, and oozing out of the ends of their fingers, Nat had turned away from the bench to welcome the official strangers. There he stood hatless, and coatless, with his shirt-sleeves stripped up to his elbows, and his noble brow wet with perspiration, looking little like one who could sway an audience by the power of his eloquence. ”

“ He had a great deal more influence over them than any teacher. He could make them do anything. Sometimes the teachers themselves used to come to him privately and tell him of things they did not like, which the boys were getting into the way of doing, and ask him to try to stop them. If Nat had not been a saint, as I said before, all this would have spoiled him; but he never thought of its being any special power in him. He used to think it was only because the boys were so kind-hearted that they could not bear to refuse any request which a poor cripple made. ”

“ His old suit did not at all impair his sense of hearing, nor obscure the language of the orator. He never heard better in his life, and, in but few instances, never felt himself better paid for his effort to hear an oration.
It was known in the shop, before work began in the afternoon, that Nat had gone just as he was [Pg 264] to hear the eulogy, and it created some merriment.
"He is a real book-worm," said one; "he always carries a book in his pocket to read when he is not at work." ”

“ Nat always felt strongly upon this point. He [Pg 21] very early learned that rich men, and those occupying posts of honor, were thought more of by many people, whether they were deserving or not, and it seemed to him wrong. He thought that one good boy ought to stand just as high as another, though his parents were poor and humble, and that every man should bear the guilt of his own deeds whether he be king or servant. Out of this feeling grew his interest in the aforesaid dialogue, and he was willing to take the place of the robber for the sake of the pleasure of "showing up" the king. ”

“ They play a conspicuous part in the affairs of this world, and are supposed to exercise a considerable degree of influence over man and other creatures. Fear, superstition, and ignorance have peopled all places with Nats. Every tree, forest, fountain, village, and town has its protecting Nat. Some among the Nats having lost their high station through misconduct, have been banished from their seats and doomed to drag a wretched existence in some gloomy recess. ”